The annual march of babies walk to raise money for the March of Dimes is quickly approaching and the ambassador family for the 2014 walk has a reason to raise awareness about pregnancies and healthy children.

Brandi Williamson was like other mothers who didn't know they were at risk for premature delivery, but Williamson gave birth to her baby, Cymiah, four months early and now she is caring for her child in the neonatal intensive care unit.

"It's a roller coaster of emotions, each day is different, some good, some bad," Williamson said.

Kori Siroky is one of those mothers. She had two premature births, both her girls Sara Kate and Ella were born premature.

Siroky said her first pregnancy was perfect all the way up until she went into labor three months early.

For her second pregnancy, she tried being even more in tune with her body, and doctors monitored her closely, but she still went into labor six weeks early.

“I thought, 'Are you kidding me? Why can't I carry a baby to term?'” Siroky said. "No one in my family has had a premature birth and both of my kids were premature. I worry, is this something they're going to have to deal with."

“In half of those cases there's no clue that those babies are going to be born early, and we haven't found ways of really predicting who's going to have pre-term births,” Dr. Lou Muglia with Children’s Hospital said.

Muglia’s team is looking for patterns of premature birth in families. Few risk factors for premature birth are actually known. Black women are more likely to have premature babies, regardless of economics, age or health conditions. Muglia believes identifying patterns could lead to finding a genetic cause. And that could help doctors identify at-risk mothers and possibly prevent premature births.

"To really invest in understanding the cause of of preterm birth, the March of Dimes has really the leading source in the country in supporting pre-term birth research," Muglia said.

Children’s Hospital is still accepting families for the study. For more information, you can visit its website or call Muglia at 513-803-7902.

Charlie Morton pitched five-hit ball for seven innings, Neil Walker hit a review-aided home run and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 Sunday in a testy game in which benches cleared after stars Andrew Mcutchen and Brandon Phillips were hit by pitches.